Gentrification of King County, Washington: 2009 & 2017

Gentrification in King County, Washington

The variables that we used to measure Gentrification/Development in the King County area are Percent of White Poppulation, Percent of Population who are 25 years and older who have a Bachelor’s Degree, Percent of Population who are renters, and the Median Home Value. To compare the Gentrification of 2017 with 2009, we create an index that will serve as a baseline for Gentrification in each census tract. This is called the Census Tract Value in this case.

The reason why we want to create a index that will represent the Census Tract Value is to see how much of the Census Tract has changed from 2009. The difference in Census Tract Values will serve as a measurement of Gentrification.

To create the index to measure the Census Tract Value in both years, we converted all our variables to z scores. Converting all our variables to z scores allows us to standardize the variables so that they are comparable to eachother. Then we add the z scores up and divid by 4 to get a composite z score that will represent the Census Tract Value.

This Censuus Tract Value can be a measurement of well-being of the tract. To get Gentrification we will find the difference of the well-being of each tract! It is important to get the difference in values beause we want to see how much of these tracts have changed from 2009 to 2017.

Census Tract Area Value in King County, Washington 2009

In the map, it looks like Seattle area is already has high scores of CTV (Census Tract Area Value), while South of Seattle the CTV is relatively low. This could mean a few things. Seattle already has high CTVs because it is already high in a White population, Population with Bachelor’s Degree, Population that are renters, and a relatively high Median Home Value. While the South of Seattle is the opposite with a low White Percentage Population, Population with Bachelor’s Degree, Populations that are renters, and low Median Home Values.

Census Tract Area Value in King County, Washington 2017

In 2017, we see more or less the some thing happening in King County. Where Seattle has relatively High CTV scores and South Seattle has lower CTV scores.

Development in King County, Washington 2009 - 2017 (Gentrification)

This map shows where the greatest change in CTVs are which gives us an idea of which areas have been gentrified. According to this map, most of the gentrfication has occured in the Seattle Area. While the South of Seattle generally stays the same. Some interesting things to note on this map is that in Seattle there is an increase of Population with a Bachelor’s Degree and Population that are renters. This means that the area itself has changed to meet the standard of living for the middle class. While the South of Seattle has hasn’t changed so much in terms of development, there has been in an increase in non-White Population.

Overtime, we expect to see more development happen South of Seattle. However, as more development happens in the South of Seattle, there are also risks of displacing minorities away from the developed parts of Seattle because as development increasing in an area so does the cost of living. The reason why you don’t want this to happen is because the most developed area have more access to oppurtunity. This means that there are more access to opportunity for the people who can afford to live in the more developed areas while the people who can’t afford to live in these more developed areas have less access. In terms of social equity this is unfair to the population that can’t afford to live in these area.